The
Lawn Olympics gods would like to thank everyone who attended LO’03
for bringing your great competitive spirit and your appreciation for homegrown
fun. Thank you, also, for donating generously to the cause. Without the
community piggy bank, LO would not be possible. But mostly, thank you
for bringing people with you – your cousin, your neighbor, that
guy you know from out of town who would just love to take part in something
like this.

LO gets larger and more diverse
every year, a fact that drives us to put it together again and again,
each a little better and bringing more surprises than the year before,
but we don’t do it alone. As always, there are a several people
that the LO gods would like to thank for going above and beyond to make
the ’03 event the most successful to date.

LO’03 broke attendance
records, capping out at 150 people, both adults and children, over the
course of the day. Not everyone was there at the beginning, and not everyone
stayed until the end, but everyone was there at lunchtime! Luckily, Jerry
Charest had shown us the way of the pig-roast and managed to feed all
150 people, and still have enough leftover for a late-night snack. Jerry
had been wanting to roast a pig for years and felt that there would be
no better time than LO to try. It could have been touch and go - there
were many things that could have gone wrong, but Jerry and his merry band
of pig-assistants pulled it off without a hitch. Thank you, Jerry, for
your vision, your ingenuity and your pig!

We should mention that without
the use of Larry Glidden’s pig-roaster, Jerry would have been turning
the pig on a spit over a bon-fire, so the gods thank you, LG, and we’re
sure Jerry does too!

It just wouldn’t be right
to mention the pork without mentioning the Grill Master, Andy Clement.
Andy has volunteered year after year to man the grill and crank out innumerable
burgers and hotdogs for endless lines of LO athletes, a task he tackles
with an inexplicable, almost twisted fervor! In 2003, however, Andy’s
job was downsized somewhat due to the volume of pork on hand. Was Andy
bitter? Did Andy gripe or pout? Hell no! He took the news like a man…a
man who loves roast pork! Andy brought with him two gallons of homemade
barbeque sauce to add to the enjoyment of the main course, and he still
stepped up to cook burgers and dogs for any non-pork eaters. What a trooper!
Thanks Andy!

One can hardly think of the
food consumed at LO without mentioning the beverages. ’03 marked
another first in LO history; the Shipyard Brewery became the first official
corporate sponsor of the event, generously contributing two kegs of its
world-famous Shipyard Export Ale. The heat that day was unrelenting, making
the beer that much more refreshing and oh so appreciated! Thank you, Shipyard!

Unofficially, Headlight Audio
Visual has been sponsoring LO for years, and ’03 was no different.
Headlight’s contribution to the event is difficult to miss –
it’s in the instructions bellowing through the bullhorn, in the
tunes cranking out of the speakers, in the mosquitoes buzzing around the
spotlights after dark. As usual, there were a few Headlight representatives
present in ’03, but not nearly enough! The gods would like to thank
everyone at Headlight for their unwavering support over the years –
we hope to see you all in 2004!

It wouldn’t be the Thank
You page if we didn’t mention young Kari Barnhart. Kari once again
came through for LO by lending the gods a couple of tents, which we wanted
to have on hand in case of rain but they turned out to be even more valuable
as shade from the blistering sun. Kari, in her never-ending grass roots
marketing endeavor, also donated several pairs of Smith glasses as prizes
to be given away at the awards ceremony, a contribution that never goes
unnoticed. Thank you, Kari, for being one of LO’s best supporters!

Anyone staying after dark may
have noticed a dark van drive up and unload a small man and a bundle of
technical stuff. Eventually, DJ Don and his Amazing Traveling Karaoke
box took center stage on the porch! Would “Mustang Sherri”
have been possible without Don? No! Would the Wolfgram brothers have been
able to rock out to Paradise City without Don? Well, maybe, but it wouldn’t
have been as memorable! Don’s enthusiastic contribution was greatly
appreciated. Thanks DJ Don!

And now, a couple of very special
thank you’s, one of them being to the 2003 Clan Captains: Tim Harkins,
Adin Wolfgram, Kari Barnhart, Kelly Dickinson, and Travis Hersom. These
five individuals rose to the challenge when asked to spearhead the clans.
They gave up an evening prior to LO to meet with the gods and to gain
some instruction. They spent their spare time before the event concocting
battle cries with which to lead their clans to victory, as well as developing
any other team-building strategies they saw fit. On the morning of the
event, decked out in their respective clan colors, they arrived early
to help with set-up and were instrumental in hustling participants through
the registration line. They agreed to have balloons tied to their belts
so they could be found easily and they didn’t waver when the gods
sprung The Scavenger Hunt on them. Most important, they exuded the spirit
of Lawn Olympics through victory and adversity, through conquest and controversy,
and the gods whole-heartedly thank them!

Lastly, the second very special
thank you – to Josh Wolfgram. Over the years, Josh has been thanked
here and there for a number of things, from building a beer-pong table
to printing clan signs, from transporting kegs to painting foul lines.
This year the gods of Lawn Olympics would like to thank Josh for saving
their ass! Early that day, the gods got the call from the God of Style
saying that his wife, Gigi, was going into labor with their second child
and he wouldn’t be able to make it to LO. Anticipating just such
a thing, the gods immediately went to Plan B and asked Josh to step in
for Chad. Josh was dubbed the God of Substitution and away he went. At
first confused by the general chaos of the day, the inexperienced Josh
quickly settled in to oversee his cribbage event and then later, found
himself the chosen god for viewing and verifying the thong portion of
The Scavenger Hunt. Not a bad start for a young god.

Oh yes. It would inappropriate
of us not to thank Katie Bernheisel for choosing to be born on Lawn Olympics!
That child is surely destined for greatness!